LNP veteran Ray Hopper resigns to join Katter's Australian Party

LNP veteran Ray Hopper resigned from the party just before midnight last night and joins Katter's Australian Party this morning in a shock defection set to rock the Newman State Government.

Mr Hopper says he has held discussions with eight disgruntled government MPs weighing up their options on whether to follow him.

He's confident four will defect early in the new year putting the KAP in striking distance of replacing Labor as the official State Opposition.

But as LNP colleagues rushed to distance themselves on Sunday, another LNP deserter, former MP Rob Messenger, said Mr Hopper should prepare for a vicious onslaught from former party colleagues.

Mr Hopper would find himself and his family subjected to a smear campaign, Mr Messenger said.

Bundaberg-based Messenger left the LNP in May 2010 to become an Independent and lost his seat in the LNP landslide last March.

He said the revenge factor would immediately kick in as the LNP sought to make an example of Mr Hopper as a warning to others.

"It happened to me," he said.

"(Premier Campbell) Newman's thugs, rumour mongers and back stabbers will attempt to drag his name through the mud in order to destroy him.

"They"ll do it out of revenge and in an attempt to send a message to those in the LNP who may be thinking of following Ray's example."

Mr Messenger said his advice to Mr Hopper was to stand up to the LNP and stay the course.

"Better to stand on your feet than kneel in front of those bastards."

Mr Messenger said he believed Mr Hopper acted not out of self interest but the interests of his constituents.

Premier Newman, speaking on Sunday, said he was disappointed and dismayed by Mr Hopper's decision but denied it reflected badly on his government.

Mr Newman described Mr Hopper's reasons for leaving as spurious and said the LNP would quickly preselect a replacement who will be treated as the "LNP's representative" in the electorate.

He said Mr Hopper had broken a written agreement made with the party and his electorate before the election.

The matter will be discussed at a party room meeting tomorrow.

"After many years of not having a voice in government, Mr Hopper has chosen to jump ship meaning the people of the Condamine electorate don't have that voice," Mr Newman said.

"It's also disappointing because prior to the election there were rumours about him and KAP and I recall very clearly that he made a formal statement at the time - indeed he also assured senior members of the LNP in his regional area - that he would serve a full term for the people of the Condamine electorate as an LNP member."

Mr Newman said he had every opportunity to join the KAP before the election and had now betrayed voters.

At noon on Sunday, Local Government Minister David Crisafulli labelled Mr Hopper "bitter and twisted" and said the defection would do more damage to his reputation than the LNP's.

"I think it's damaged his credibility. Mr Hopper has now been to more parties than Paris Hilton," he said.

"This is not about rural and regional Queensland's representation. It's about a bitter and twisted man who is pushing his own agenda."

Mr Crisafulli said he did not know which other eight MPs Mr Hopper was talking about and said he was not concerned about possible further defections.

"We have a big team but we also have a big task and there will be those along that journey who find the going is a little bit too tough. They'll want to jump off the train," he said.

"What we need is people who actually want to reform the state. We have been elected with a clear mandate for change, for reform and reform is never easy and you will always find people who wilt when the going gets tough.

"That's a matter for Mr Hopper, that's a matter for others but I tell you the reform must continue for the sake of Queensland."

At 10am Sunday, Warrego MP Howard Hobbs said he was disappointed his good friend Mr Hopper had left the party but he would not be following suit.

"He is a good mate of mine but obviously he has some good reasons for doing it. It's disappointing," Mr Hobbs said, contacted by The Courier-Mail by phone on Sunday morning.

"There's obviously been some changes to the way the party is run but that's what you do when you have a big new group come together."

Mr Hobbs said he was happy with the party and with his role in the Newman Government as chair of the Transport, Housing and Local Government parliamentary committee.

"I certainly have a responsible role as a committee chairman and I enjoy doing that," he said.

Mr Hobbs said he believed talk of up to eight other LNP MPs following Mr Hopper was just speculation.

"I don't know of any others. I'm not going. I always believe that if there are changes to be made they should be made from within."

Gaven MP Alex Douglas also ruled out jumping ship.

Dr Douglas, who is Bob Katter's nephew, recently voiced his opposition to the Newman Government's plans for a cruise ship terminal at the Southport Spit but said he had no plans to leave the LNP.

"I'd just encourage everyone at this point to take a deep breath and get on with the business of fair and honest government."

Earlier, it was reported that Mr Hopper, a long-serving LNP member who held a series of Opposition portfolios, is incensed at what he believes is a deliberate internal campaign to gut the LNP of National Party influence.

He's convinced the LNP has transformed into city-centric Liberals.

His defection is the latest blow to an LNP Government buffeted by internal turbulence, fresh from last week's resignation of party veteran Clive Palmer.

Mr Hopper says old National Party identities are treated appallingly by an "arrogant" Premier Campbell Newman and deputy Jeff Seeney.

He's also angered by the mass sackings of public servants, believing the process could have been tempered by more reliance on natural attrition.

"Our aim is to become the State Opposition in 2013 and take the fight right up to Mr Newman," a defiant Mr Hopper told The Sunday Mail.

"We have good National Party people out there who are suffering and being patient - well I couldn't be patient anymore," he said.

"When Campbell Newman won power he sacked the National Party - he sacked Hopper, Howard Hobbs, Mike Horan, Ted Malone and Vaughan Johnson. We don't have a minister west of the Great Divide."

Mr Hopper, an ex-National Party member who started political life in 2001 as an Independent, says former National Party members are now furious they bailed out the Liberals financially to form the LNP, only to see the bush elbowed aside.

He acknowledges he'll have to stare down former LNP colleagues in State Parliament this week, but says he's committed to a decision supported by wife Jeanette.

"Ray has been a warrior for the LNP, but he has to be true to himself and the people he represents," she said.

The KAP, now with three MPs in the State Parliament, including north Queenslanders Robbie Katter and Shane Knuth say the defection gives the party a beach head in the southeast.

The party needs nine MPs to claim official Opposition status.

State leader Aidan McLindon said the Liberals and Nationals were two different creatures.

"It was only a matter of time before one would draw sword on the other," he said.

"There is a greater ideological divide between the Libs and the Nats than there is between the Libs and the ALP."

Mr Hopper's sudden departure has the potential to feed on last week's decision by Mr Palmer, an old Country Party "warrior", to fold his tent.

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